534 ON CAVES CONTAINING BONES 



sand various forms. The bones are nearly in the same 

 state in all these caverns : detached, scattered, partly bro- 

 ken, but never rolled, and consequently not brought from 

 a distance by water ; a little lighter and less solid than 

 recent bones, but still in their true animal nature, very 

 little decomposed, containing much gelatine, and not at 

 all petrified. A hardened, but still easily frangible or 

 pulverisable earth, also containing animal parts, and 

 sometimes blackish, forms their natural envelope. It is 



The bones of small animals, mentioned by Esper, are now no 

 longer met with ; and, in the collections of Esper and Frischmann, 

 Dr Goldfuss saw only a few dozen of the glutton (Gulo.) The 

 contents of a peculiar conglomerate described by Esper, cannot now 

 be determined. It consisted of a confused assemblage of very small 

 bones, the fracture surfaces of which were fibrous, and contained 

 also the thigh-bone and rib of a bird, which were conjectured to equal 

 in size those of the eagle ; hence Esper inferred that the mass was 

 made up of the remains of reptile and fish bones. 



No remains have hitherto been found in these caves ; but in form- 

 er times we are told that teeth of the elephant were found in the 

 Zahnloch, and a vertebra, supposed, of a rhinoceros, in the Schnei- 

 derloch. The bones of domestic animals, such as deer, roes, foxes, 

 and badgers, frequently found in the caves, shew, at a glance, that 

 they have come into their present situation accidentally, at a mo- 

 dern period. 



The cave at Mockas formerly contained in its deepest fissures, 

 teeth and fragments of bones of bears, associated with rolled stories, 

 and enveloped in earthy marl. The entrance to this cave is situ- 

 ated on the acclivity of a hill. Goldfuss ascended to the entrance 

 of it by means of a rope, and found in its interior many narrow, wide 

 extended hollows, which are generally so confined that we can only 

 visit them by creeping. Here and there there are small widenings, 

 and frequently narrow outlets occur in the roof. 



The Zahnloch and the Schneiderloch, which also contain single 

 bones of bears, are small vaults, with wide openings, into which we 

 can penetrate without difficulty. 



